Drone footage caught the moment when Ukrainian troops captured a Russian turtle-tank and its crew, before driving it back to their base.
Putin’s army has seen its stock of tanks decimated over the course of the two year war.
Defence analysts from the Oryx group say Ukraine has destroyed over 3000 tanks since February 2022, while Kyiv claims to have wiped out over 7,000.
The huge losses have forced Putin’s generals to wheel out Soviet-era tanks, that had long since been retired from service.
And the humiliations keep piling up for Russia’s army, evidenced by a new video circulating on social media channels.
A drone filmed the moment Ukrainian troops took a Russian tank crew by surprise, forcing them to surrender and hand over their precious equipment to their adversaries.
The Ukrainian soldiers can be seen tying the hands of one Russian soldier behind his back, before speeding off with their prize which has a Ukrainian flag attached to its roof.
The tank in the video has had metal sheeting attached to it, designed to protect it from drone and missile attacks.
Its odd appearance has given rise to its nickname – the turtle-tank or “Blyatmobile”.
As crude as the innovation may seem, it has proved effective in the past, and was first used on ships in World War I.
The outlier layer of sheet metal causes a warhead to explode further from its target, thereby reducing its effectiveness when it reaches the main armour – or so the theory goes.
Spaced armour was used on tanks during the second world war, to protect them from bazookas and rocket-propelled grenades.
In this war, the modified tanks are mostly T-72s belonging to Russia’s 5th Motor Rifle Brigade, according to The Economist.
They are primarily used to clear a path through minefields, a task that inevitably makes them vulnerable to heavy fire.
The added protection has significant drawbacks, making the tank much heavier and therefore much slower.
It also prevents the vehicle from rotating its turret, limiting its ability to fire on attackers, and severely restricts visibility.
